Very Low Budget Meals
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Whilst cruising round the galaxy, no traveller should be without an essential recipe book, full of meals to be made for under a quid! The best way to obtain such a book is to make your own, and the best way to do that is to buy a small, soft backed note pad, the kind that fits snugly into a pocket and doesnt feel right till it's been tightly wrapped in sticky tape a few times to stop it falling to bits and fill it with recipes that you pick up on your journeyings.
This way you:
(a) don't have to pay more than a quid for the book in the first place and subsequently won't have lost much financially if it eventually does fall to bits.
(b) don't have to put up with all the high budget and/or nasty liver recipes you will invariably find in any shop bought book, leaving more room for tasty cheap meals you actually want.
(c) can use the back pages as a handy address book.
Here are a few ideas of my own to start you off with.
Leek and Tatey Soup.
A few potatoes
A leek or two
Another green vegetable if you fancy (e.g. onion, celery, cabbage, whatever you prefer)
Half a pint of milk
Some water and some salt.
Wash, peel or do whatever you do to the vegetables in preparation of them being cooked and then chop 'em up small and chuck 'em in a pan with the water covering them. Add some salt and let it boil until the vegetables are soft. Mash, puree, or blend the whole lot together, add the milk and reheat through.
That's it.
(If time, money and good cooking conditions are in abundance the veggies will benefit from being gently fried in butter and olive oil before adding the water and a handful of fresh chives and parsley could be thrown in towards the end of cooking, and some ground black pepper added to season).
Pan Bread
Otherwise known as "Paupers Bread" this is the cheapest recipe I have ever found and believe me it can be very tasty if youre skint and hungry!
Flour
Water
Add the water to the flour a little at a time and mix it together until it is a doughy consistency. Make a ball and flatten it so it's about the same size as the inside of your frying pan and fry it. When its brown on both sides it should be done, your flattened dough ball should not be more than about a centimetre thick or the inside will not be cooked until the outside is burnt.
This goes very well with the next item and I believe if you shop around you can have the both of them for approximately 93 English pennies!
Cheesy Beans
Small lump of cheese (that one in the fridge that didnt get wrapped up last night and is starting to go a little hard on the edge will do)
Tin of beans
Onion (optional)
Grate the cheese into the beans and cook, yum yum!
If you want to add the onion, which does make it extra special, fry until tender in the saucepan before adding the cheese and beans.
Other things that can be added include mushrooms, ham, leftover curry or bolognese, chilli powder etc.
Banana Custard
An underrated desert if ever there was one!
1 Pack of instant custard powder (get the brand name one though because the cheapies are not so good)
1 Banana
Make up the custard according to pack instructions (add boiling water and whisk).
Slice the banana and add it to the custard, stir in and eat.
Corned Beef Hash
Tin of corned beef
Few potatoes
Onion
Tin of baked beans or left over cheesy beans if you have them
Boil the potatoes and mash them. Fry the onions and mix them together with the corned beef, mashed potatoes and baked beans. Heat through and Bob's your uncle!
If you like you can put the whole lot inside a pastry case and turn it into a pie, this is particularly good when sliced up and eaten cold.
If you're into fish it's not bad if you substitute the corned beef for a couple of tins of sardines in tomato sauce.
Cosmic Stew
I must apologise for the terrible name of this dish but it's original name was a rude word implying that the parents of the said dish were not legally married. I thought that Cosmic Stew would be less offensive but upon reflection, maybe not.
I must also apologise for the terrible nature of this "food", it was passed down to me by 2 male students so you can appreciate my need for apologies. They seemed to like though so maybe I'm just picky!
Anything in the cupboard/fridge
Anything else that appears in the cupboard/fridge over the next five days
Put whatever you have in the cupboard/fridge into a large pan. Add water and bring to the boil. Over the next five days add anything else you come across and eat as and when you are hungry.
This creation starts its life as a kind of miserable soup and goes via the mish mash stew stage on to the eventual thick loaf like end product.
Things Ive known to be found in various cupboards/fridges include:
baked beans
lentils
packets of beanfeast
noodles
pasta of varying shapes and sizes
tomatoes, fresh and tinned
oats
soy sauce
miscellaneous vegetables
mushrooms of varying varieties
various herbs and spices
kidney beans ... you get the idea?!
Other Ideas for Budget Eating
Jacket Potatoes, cheap, tasty, lovely with cheesy beans and any you dont eat can be used as hand warming devices, or missiles if you should find yourself under attack.
Anything on Toast, you can put just about anything on toast, although you should probably try sticking to food mostly!
Curry Sauce, not much of a meal on its own I'll grant you but slop it on top of most things to brighten them up no end, and some of the powdered ones are really good.
Fruit, cheap, very tasty, easily available almost everywhere.
Handy Tips
Uncut bread that's started going stale can usually be revived by running very quickly under the tap and putting it in the oven for 10 minutes or so.
If you have a potato you'll never starve.
If someone feeds you and you enjoy it ask for the recipe.
Whenever possible (if its not too impolite) take a doggy bag.
Pan bread with butter on it is always better than supermarket bread and marge. Skimp where you can to buy the luxuries that a world weary traveller deserves!
This way you:
(a) don't have to pay more than a quid for the book in the first place and subsequently won't have lost much financially if it eventually does fall to bits.
(b) don't have to put up with all the high budget and/or nasty liver recipes you will invariably find in any shop bought book, leaving more room for tasty cheap meals you actually want.
(c) can use the back pages as a handy address book.
Here are a few ideas of my own to start you off with.
Leek and Tatey Soup.
A few potatoes
A leek or two
Another green vegetable if you fancy (e.g. onion, celery, cabbage, whatever you prefer)
Half a pint of milk
Some water and some salt.
Wash, peel or do whatever you do to the vegetables in preparation of them being cooked and then chop 'em up small and chuck 'em in a pan with the water covering them. Add some salt and let it boil until the vegetables are soft. Mash, puree, or blend the whole lot together, add the milk and reheat through.
That's it.
(If time, money and good cooking conditions are in abundance the veggies will benefit from being gently fried in butter and olive oil before adding the water and a handful of fresh chives and parsley could be thrown in towards the end of cooking, and some ground black pepper added to season).
Pan Bread
Otherwise known as "Paupers Bread" this is the cheapest recipe I have ever found and believe me it can be very tasty if youre skint and hungry!
Flour
Water
Add the water to the flour a little at a time and mix it together until it is a doughy consistency. Make a ball and flatten it so it's about the same size as the inside of your frying pan and fry it. When its brown on both sides it should be done, your flattened dough ball should not be more than about a centimetre thick or the inside will not be cooked until the outside is burnt.
This goes very well with the next item and I believe if you shop around you can have the both of them for approximately 93 English pennies!
Cheesy Beans
Small lump of cheese (that one in the fridge that didnt get wrapped up last night and is starting to go a little hard on the edge will do)
Tin of beans
Onion (optional)
Grate the cheese into the beans and cook, yum yum!
If you want to add the onion, which does make it extra special, fry until tender in the saucepan before adding the cheese and beans.
Other things that can be added include mushrooms, ham, leftover curry or bolognese, chilli powder etc.
Banana Custard
An underrated desert if ever there was one!
1 Pack of instant custard powder (get the brand name one though because the cheapies are not so good)
1 Banana
Make up the custard according to pack instructions (add boiling water and whisk).
Slice the banana and add it to the custard, stir in and eat.
Corned Beef Hash
Tin of corned beef
Few potatoes
Onion
Tin of baked beans or left over cheesy beans if you have them
Boil the potatoes and mash them. Fry the onions and mix them together with the corned beef, mashed potatoes and baked beans. Heat through and Bob's your uncle!
If you like you can put the whole lot inside a pastry case and turn it into a pie, this is particularly good when sliced up and eaten cold.
If you're into fish it's not bad if you substitute the corned beef for a couple of tins of sardines in tomato sauce.
Cosmic Stew
I must apologise for the terrible name of this dish but it's original name was a rude word implying that the parents of the said dish were not legally married. I thought that Cosmic Stew would be less offensive but upon reflection, maybe not.
I must also apologise for the terrible nature of this "food", it was passed down to me by 2 male students so you can appreciate my need for apologies. They seemed to like though so maybe I'm just picky!
Anything in the cupboard/fridge
Anything else that appears in the cupboard/fridge over the next five days
Put whatever you have in the cupboard/fridge into a large pan. Add water and bring to the boil. Over the next five days add anything else you come across and eat as and when you are hungry.
This creation starts its life as a kind of miserable soup and goes via the mish mash stew stage on to the eventual thick loaf like end product.
Things Ive known to be found in various cupboards/fridges include:
baked beans
lentils
packets of beanfeast
noodles
pasta of varying shapes and sizes
tomatoes, fresh and tinned
oats
soy sauce
miscellaneous vegetables
mushrooms of varying varieties
various herbs and spices
kidney beans ... you get the idea?!
Other Ideas for Budget Eating
Jacket Potatoes, cheap, tasty, lovely with cheesy beans and any you dont eat can be used as hand warming devices, or missiles if you should find yourself under attack.
Anything on Toast, you can put just about anything on toast, although you should probably try sticking to food mostly!
Curry Sauce, not much of a meal on its own I'll grant you but slop it on top of most things to brighten them up no end, and some of the powdered ones are really good.
Fruit, cheap, very tasty, easily available almost everywhere.
Handy Tips
Uncut bread that's started going stale can usually be revived by running very quickly under the tap and putting it in the oven for 10 minutes or so.
If you have a potato you'll never starve.
If someone feeds you and you enjoy it ask for the recipe.
Whenever possible (if its not too impolite) take a doggy bag.
Pan bread with butter on it is always better than supermarket bread and marge. Skimp where you can to buy the luxuries that a world weary traveller deserves!
